3/4-inch Umatic deck to the digital realm

[Dale Nicholson]

Need some help from you ole' timers--especially you who remember the 3/4-inch Umatic decks: This weekend I’m copying my old ¾-inch video projects I did in college to the digital realm using a Canopus advc-300 analog to digital converter. I have run into a snag:

My original projects were produced using audio tracks one and two. After capturing the footage (using a Sony Umatic ¾-inch deck), everything is fine except after the capture is complete, I discover that audio track “one”(the music track) didn’t capture. I’m only getting audio track two—the dialogue track. I’m sure I’m overlooking something simple. What is it? Anyone remember the old days of two audio tracks on a Umatic tape? Shouldn’t I be hearing my music soundtrack (on track #1) just as I’m hearing the dialogue of track #2 while capturing? When I'm capturing, I'm only hearing what's on track #2 of the tape. I'm using Sony Vegas.

I'm using a Sony Umatic VO-5850 (3/4-inch deck). It must be something in Vegas I'm not doing because I can only hear the audio of track # two when capturing. Why can't I hear the soundtrack (track #1)? Hmmm..

On the front of the deck: Audio Level: Ch1 VU meter, Ch2 VU meter, Audio limiter on/off. Audio Monitor: Ch1/mix/ch2.
Mode Select: TBC/Normal/Edit

I'm using the red/white/yellow cable to connect output to my Canopus inputs. Ch1 and Ch2 VU meters do not move while playing back the tape--yet I hear only the one track while recording.

[Larry Vaughn]

Someone recently copied some 3/4 tapes for me via a U-matic deck directly onto a Canon camcorder dv tape. Then I ingested the tape files in the usual manner onto my NLE from the Canon.

[Alessandro Machi]

try switching out the output cables during the transfer to see if you can hear the other track suddenly kick in. There may be an output selection switch on the front of the unit.

It's possible you accidentally are using the mix output rather than output 1 on the back of the unit.

[Dale Nicholson]

Okay; it turns out it was a videotape problem. Some of my 16 year old tapes play both channels of audio; some only play one. So that's why my old profs suggested placing important audio on channel 2 back in those days. Remember that recommendation back in the days of 3/4-inch tape? Thank goodness I made a dub of my master. The dub channels work just fine.

[Alessandro Machi]

Thanks for the update Dale.

Just for kicks make sure the skew adjustment and the tracking adjustment has been optimized.

[Dale Nicholson]

Not that it matters much today in the world of digital, but my 3M tapes held up much better than the Sony brand tapes--for what it's worth.

Dale

[Alessandro Machi]

Originally Posted by Dale Nicholson

Not that it matters much today in the world of digital, but my 3M tapes held up much better than the Sony brand tapes--for what it's worth.

Dale

Several years ago I did a bump up from 3/4 to betacam sp and the 3/4 machine would develop a head clog after only a couple of hours of use. I think it was because the 3/4 tapes were pretty old and tape particles were coming off the tape and landing onto the video heads.

I discovered that unused 3M 3/4 tapes, when played after the 3/4 deck's heads were clogged would actually clean the video heads on the 3/4 deck!